An application does not create an instance of the IDataRecord interface directly, but creates an instance of a class that inherits IDataRecord. Typically, you do this by obtaining a DataReader through the ExecuteReader method of the Command object.

Classes that inherit IDataRecord must implement all inherited members, and typically define additional members to add provider-specific functionality.

Providers implementing a DataReader are required to expose data in common language runtime (CLR) types. Type coercion is defined for some types not included in the CLR. These values may be accessed as alternative types that comply with CLR types. As an example, the following table lists suggested mappings from OLE DB data types to CLR types, and lists alternative types in parentheses in the CLR Type column.

The following example creates instances of the derived classes, SqlConnection, SqlCommand, and SqlDataReader. The example reads through the data, writing it out to the console. Finally, the example closes the SqlDataReader, and then the SqlConnection.